Heat oil in small skillet over medium heat. Add shallots; sauté 4 minutes. Cool. Mix in cheese, tomatoes and basil. Season filling with salt and pepper. Place wrappers on work surface. Place 2 teaspoons filling in center. Brush edges with water. Fold wrappers diagonally in half; press edges to seal. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Place in single layer on floured baking sheet. Cover; chill.)

Bring soup to simmer, thinning with more stock if necessary. Cook dumplings in pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 1 minute. Ladle soup into bowls. Using slotted spoon, place 2 dumplings atop soup in each bowl.

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Granted, I've made some modifications, but this recipe was the basis for an absolutely drop-dead-wonderful soup.
First of all, I used a very rich homemade chicken broth. Because I'm in Mexico, where fennel is difficult to fine, instead of white wine, I used an anise-flavored liqueur (like Pernod). That provided the hint of anise-flavoring the original recipe gets from fresh fennel. Worked like a charm!
When making the dumplings, I used homemade oven-dried (like sun-dried) tomatoes instead of fresh ones. Oven drying condenses the flavors and delivers more of a punch. I also cooked up the dumplings the same way you'd cook potstickers (lightly fried and then steamed in the pan). Lastly, because I thought the soup could use a little color -- and because zucchini flowers are available to me -- I used the brightly colored portions of the blossoms, finely cut into slivers, as a light garnish.
And a last tip: From my experience, I think that this soup tastes best either freshly made, or the next day. Beyond that, the flavors are not quite as perfect as they are when fresh.

Followed recipe exactly. I don't know, maybe my taste buds took the day off, but I was surprised that the soup and dumplings were incredibly bland. I'll not make either again, but if I did, I would use all of the previous reviewers' suggestions which might make them edible.

I read the reviews and made a few changes. In soup added 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes and made it with 3 cloves garlic and made it with chicken stock. Used a medium size potato and skipped the cream didn't need it. On dumplings didn't have fresh basil so used 1 1/2 tsp dried basil, 2 tablespoons white wine and 2 tablespoons finely chopped sun dried tomatoes and 2 chopped garlic cloves sautéed with shallots. Didn't have goat cheese substitute it with crumbled feta cheese. To cook dumplings I heated non stick pan with about a tablespoon of oil coat pan medium heat brown each side of dumpling the add 2 tablespoons water and cover immediately and turn down the heat to low for about 5 minutes. I think that the sun dried tomatoes add the extra zip that when you bite into the dumpling with the soup it adds to the soup.

I must admit I
haven't prepared the
dumplings yet,
though I do plan on
stuffing them in
fresh pasta instead
of wonton wrappers,
and will check back
in to review that
process, but this
soup is delicious! I
grilled the eggplant
instead of roasting
them, and it gave a
nice smokey flavor. The
soup came out quite
thick and would
certainly stand on
its own without
dumplings to
accompany it

Delicious! I have to say, I made some
modifications out of laziness and availability of
ingredients - the food store closest to my house
has a limited produce department so I was
unable to add the leeks. I roasted 2 large
eggplants, 1 1/2 red pepper and the garlic all
together. I added 2 Idaho potatoes. Did not add
the cream, but did add a bit of goat cheese I had
on hand. In lieu of the dumplings, I added 2
packages of frozen, store bought, bite sized
cheese raviolis. Served with a fresh salad, pain
rustique flat bread and some red table wine - great dinner
for a cold, October evening in NJ.

I think the flavors in the soup are fantastic. The eggplant is mellow but delicious and the potato gives the soup a creaminess before the heavy cream is even added. I made the wontons early in the day and placed them on a cookie sheet sprayed with non stick spray and covered them with a wet towel. Then I baked them before adding to the soup!
This recipe was easy and great!

Just a note to those who have problems with the dumplings sticking. When you are done prepping, place them on a sheet of wax paper that has been lightly oiled. I use this method for another soup and it works perfectly. No goo.

I cut this recipe in half (just the hubby and me here) and it was a definite 3.5 forks. He hates eggplant and didn't even know it was in there! I used low fat chicken broth & 1% milk and it still had loads of flavor. I admit to adding a couple of shakes of red pepper flakes because some reviewers stated it lacked flavor, but it could have stood on it's own. I did take everybody's suggestion on deep-frying the dumplings - and I agree that they are delicious that way. A great appetizer on their own with perhaps a hot/sweet sauce. General Chow's comes to mind. There were no leftovers!

I don't understand the rave reviews for this soup. I thought it lacked a lot of flavour punch - pretty bland. Not difficult, but a bit time consuming and not worth the time invested. However, the dumplings were very good. I added some red wine to the shallots when sauteing to boost flavour and fried them as suggested by others and I would make these again as a stand alone appetizer. I couldn't understand them in the context of the soup - the flavours didn't seem to enhance each other.

I cannot even tell you how much I liked this soup. We also fried the dumplings, which I think gives a great added texture to the dish. I don't even like eggplant and I thought that it was out of this world.

An excellent soup for the end of a long, grey winter. The dumplings are definately needed to give spice to the soup (which is mild but delicious). I skipped the whipping cream, which is really not necessary). It is a fair amount of work, but if you have a friend working along side and make it a fun project (rather than time-pressured meal) it is a fun and delicious way to spend an afternoon.

I don't understand why someone would think the dumplings are strange. They add interest and tang. The ingredients are a perfect match for eggplant - you don't get much more classic than that.
The soup was fantastic. I wouldn't change a thing, except that I would add that I didn't use the portion of eggplant that came into contact with the baking sheet. It tasted bitter to me when I tried it.
Great recipe.

The soup is wonderful! I assembled and boiled the dumplings the night before. I stored them in a Tupperware bowl. It was impossible to get them out of the Tupperware without ripping and tearing them. And they tasted a bit gummy. Next time I'll use ravioli or tortellini.

This soup was absolutely delicious! All my guests were extremely impressed as I was myself!I followed the recipe as is, but next time I will try milk or half-and-half to see if I can save on calories per others suggestions. Also, a handheld blender would be perfect as it was a bit messy to do all the transfering. This was definitely a huge hit!!!!